Alone
by HuntressBiancadiAngelo
Summary: Who wouldn't have nightmares after a war and being banished from one's home? One night Alabaster has a nightmare while on the run from monsters with Claymore. Claymore tries to calm the boy. I suck at summaries and titles, so yeah, but the story is much better then the summary. It's rated T cause I'm paranoid like Batman.


**A/N Not my best work, but I wanted to write something for the new character, Alabaster. At one point I use actual words from the short story Son of Magic, I don't own that.**

** Disclaimer: Son of Magic and all new characters from that story are property of Haley Riordan. That's right, Rick doesn't own it either.**

It was a blissfully peaceful night for once, something Claymore had stopped thinking would ever come. He and Alabaster were always running from monsters; Claymore unable to do much more then just watching while Alabaster took care of the monsters with an incantation, or a mistform. But for one night no monsters had attacked them, it was a calm before the storm, one that was greatly appreciated.

Even so, they took shifts like normal, unwilling to let a monster sneak up on them while they both slept. Claymore took the first watch like usual; having realized that he needed less sleep then before he had died. Claymore was actually fairly happy to take the first shift, although he wouldn't show it. He would always go longer then Alabaster told him to to try and give the sixteen year old boy some sleep. It had been all to obvious that he hadn't slept for days when Claymore had just met the boy, and the doctor had quickly learned that Alabaster would do anything to not have to sleep. Claymore didn't have to guess to much on why the boy tried to avoid sleeping at all costs.

Nightmares.

After all, what boy could watch his family be murdered in front of his eyes and not have nightmares after it?

Claymore had no proof that Alabaster was having nightmares, but he had noticed the boy start shaking in his sleep despite the temperature being fairly warm, or he would begin to toss and turn, but each time Alabaster would deny having any form of a nightmare.

This night, shockingly, Alabaster hadn't argued with Claymore on who took first watch, being to exhausted by the last week of running from monsters. The boy had just crawled into his sleeping bag on the forest floor, and a second later he was sound asleep. Claymore sat next to him, gently running a hand through the boy's hair.

He had begun to think of the boy as a son; not that he'd ever in a million years admit to that. But, it was just impossible to not care for a boy who was so hurt. Alabaster needed a family, someone to take care of him, even if he'd never admit that, Claymore had realized that when the boy hadn't used the spell to stop Lamia to try and save his life. Unfortunately, in Claymore's terms, he could only offer himself as family to Alabaster; the boy was banished, not allowed to ever go to Olympus or this place called Camp Half-blood, he was divided from his family, almost completely alone. Claymore was honestly shocked that the boy had managed to go for eight months on his own, no help at all, no one to care for him.

So as Claymore settled down next to the boy, his eyes scanning the forest for any sign of a monster, he silently prayed that Alabaster had no nightmares, and that everything could go right for this boy that he had to protect.

**~Line Break~**

Blood. Blood. Red, bright red. That was the only thing Alabaster could calculate as he looked around him, at the battle still raging, and then, to the bodies lying on the ground. The bodies of his half-brothers and sisters, the family he had led into battle. _No, no, no, this can't be true. They can't be dead; I can't have led them to their deaths. Alabaster_ thought as his mind refused to accept what was right in front of his eyes. Everything around him seemed to be in slow motion, all of the screams and blood and bodies hitting the ground. Alabaster just wanted it to stop, for it all to stop.

"Alabaster! Help!" A scream sounded behind the fifteen year old, who spun around to see who was calling him.

It was Lily, one of the younger children of Hecate at only twelve years of age. She was being backed into a corner, a man who had to be on Olympus' side holding a sword pointed at her heart and closing in on the little girl. Lily screamed again, her eyes finding Alabaster and silently begging him to save her. Alabaster wasn't going to let his last half sibling die if he had anything to say about it.

Alabaster reached into his pocket pulling out one of his Mistform cards; tapping on it a full sized sword sprang into his hands.

" Stay away from her! Incantare: Persequor Vestigium" Alabaster shouted, green runes covering his whole body as he charged.

He managed to get three quarters of the way to Lily before another warrior slammed into him, sending him spiraling to the ground, He hadn't even noticed this other brute. Alabaster tried to push himself up to save Lily, but as soon as he was on his knees the butt of the brute's sword slammed into his head. He was only dimly aware of collapsing back on the ground, his ears ringing and his eyesight funny. The only thing he could see was Lily and the first brute, who was ready to stab Lily with his sword.

"N-No, p-please don't," Alabaster stammered, unable to even talk right with the head blow.

But the last thing Alabaster saw before he blacked out was of the sword piercing Lily's body and the light going out in her eyes as she screamed, "Alabaster!" Alabaster blissfully feel unconscious right after.

**~Line Break~**

Alabaster looked around him, trying to figure out where he was. Looking around he was shocked to find that he remembered the room he was currently standing in. It was his old room from when he was living with his dad, and it was all exactly like it had been then. The bed in a corner, a desk pressed against the wall, covered in papers and writing/coloring utensils, pictures covering the walls, a small stuffed bunny lying on the bed covers, and some toys lying scattered on the floor. _The last time I was here, I was six._ Alabaster thought in shock as he continued to look around the room. It was then that he noticed something even more odd. Looking down at himself he gave a tiny squeak as he realized he was wearing Mickey Mouse footie pajamas and was six again. What the Hades?

"Alabaster, breakfast is ready, come on down!" Alabaster's eyes widened at the voice, a voice he hadn't heard in ten years. "Alabaster? You coming, something wrong?" The door creaked open and a tall man with short brown hair stepped in. His blueish-green eyes immediately found the person he was looking for, his son. "What's wrong Al? You sick or something?" Alabaster's father knelt in front of his son, checking his forehead for a temperature.

"N-No, Dad, I'm fine," Alabaster stumbled over his words for a second, shocked to see his dad standing in front of him.

"Well, okay then. Come on Sport, breakfast is ready; your favorite, pancakes with chocolate chips," The smile on his father's face made Alabaster break out in his own smile, one that seemed to lite up the whole room. He even laughed when his dad picked him up and carried him downstairs, placing him in a chair in front of the table in their dining room.

"Here you go buddy," Alabaster's dad said as he set a plate of pancakes down in front of his son, ruffling Alabaster's hair a little as he did so.

"Thanks dad," Alabaster smiled; who knew, maybe this would go well, maybe he could just spend some time with his dad for the first time in years. And so Alabaster dug into the pancakes, savoring the flavor.

It was only once Alabaster was done that he noticed that something was off, "Dad, is something wrong?" Alabaster asked, turning to look at his father, only to nearly fall of the chair at what was happening.

His father was on fire. On fire! Fire was consuming every part of his body, the flames licking at his clothes, his hair alight by an unnatural red glow. But worst of all, for Alabaster anyway, was his eyes, which held no warmth or caring anymore but was filled with anger. "You're the problem! You killed me then just left while this house burned down! Even before that you were a problem, monsters attacking every other day; you've done nothing but ruin my life! You killed me, and I'll haunt you till the day you're sentenced to the Fields of Punishment! You ruin everything you touch, even your family."

The memories bombarded Alabaster like Lamia's attacks for his first eight months of exile. Him finding an old notebook and reading one thing out of it. An incantation. His father coming into the room, and then screaming. Fire, fire everywhere, destroying everything. His father burning in front of him. Then running, running to try and get away from everything that was happening, but the book still clasped tightly in his arms. Later he'd found out that the spell had been Temple of Fire, designed to take away what one cares about most, and for him that had been his dad.

"I-I'm sorry, D-Dad; I-I didn't k-know what the i-incantation was. I-I'm so s-s-sorry," Alabaster whimpered, holding back his tears. His throat had constricted painfully, and he was gasping for air as the tears threatened to fall.

"You really think 'sorry' matter now?" His father sneers. "You are not my son anymore, all you do is cause destruction. You can forget I even existed." And with that his father turned around, waling away from Alabaster as the flames continued to burn around him, and unknowingly, for Alabaster at least, the flames attacked the walls of the house as well.

"I-I'm sorry Dad, I'm sorry!" Alabaster screamed, tears finally leaking past his eyes and streaming down his face. He took off after his dad, running as fast as his small legs could carry him. "Dad! Wait! Please, wait." Alabaster reached out, expecting to grab onto his dad's sleeve, instead he only grabbed air. Spinning around he realized everything was black, no fire, no house, no dad.

It was all dark, nothing around, till it changed into a new scene, one Alabaster had nightmares of to many times. He was back in his last house, the only in the small town where he'd faced off against Lamia. The book of incantations was at his feet, flames surrounding it, destroying his, their last hope. Lamia was in front of him, holding Claymore by the neck, cackling madly. It was just like it had been only a couple of weeks ago.

"Alabaster...what happens when we die?" Claymore asked, his blueish-green eyes looking imploringly at the sixteen-year-old.

Alabaster couldn't stop the words from coming. "Stop saying that!" he screamed, "You're going to be fine!" _This can't happen again, please don't happen again. _Alabaster silently begged; he couldn't watch Claymore die again.

"Alabaster, you told me earlier that heroes don't die. You may be right , but I can tell you one thing," As Alabaster's eyes locked with Claymore's the boy wanted to scream at him to not do what he was about to do, he wanted to race forward and save the mortal doctor, but it was like his feet were lead and refused to move. He could only watch. "I'm not a hero."

Alabaster could only watch horrified as Claymore pushed Lamia into the hallway, grappling with the monster. He could only scream as one of Lamia's sharp claws pierced Claymore's neck. Could only watch as blood poured from the wound and Claymore collapsed onto the ground. Not moving, not even his chest. As Lamia turned towards Alabaster he did nothing, waiting for his mother to step in like she had before. But this time there was no Hecate coming to the rescue. Alabaster fled back into the room, stopping the fire with one incantation. He flipped through the pages as quickly as possible to find the right spell as Lamia closed in on him. _There. There. I have it._

_ "Incantare: Redimio vos ut is Terra!_" Alabaster shouted as Lamia lunged at him. She stopped in mid-air, her eyes wide and filled with anger as she stared at Alabaster, before her body disintegrated, becoming black sand.

Alabaster waited for a minute to see if she would reform, when she didn't' he ran into the hallway, straight to Claymore. He dropped down to his knees at the still doctor's side. Desperately he checked for a pulse, but after a minute of searching he realized there was no pulse anymore.

"No, no, no, you can't be dead, you can't! Wake up! Wake up! Don't leave me alone! Wake up! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please come back..." Alabaster trailed off, knowing that crying and begging wouldn't do anything. But that didn't stop the pain he felt. He'd led another person to their death, he'd destroyed another life. How many more people was he going to get killed? His father, his half-brothers and sisters, and now Claymore, all dead because of him.

Laying down Alabaster curled up against Claymore's side, whimpering and crying like a baby, but at that moment he didn't care.

He just wanted the pain to go away.

"Come back, please come back," the boy whimpered as he cried.

**~Line Break~**

The whimpers alerted Claymore that something was wrong. As much as he hated it he had actually fallen asleep, but just for a minute or two. Sitting up straighter Claymore's eyes scanned the forest, seeing everything around them thanks to the fire he'd built. It was only when the whimper sounded again, louder this time, that Claymore realized that it was coming from Alabaster. Looking around he saw the boy curled up in a tight ball, tears rolling down his face, and whimpering. Nightmare, Alabaster was having a nightmare. Didn't the boy deserve at least one moment of peace? The gods didn't seem to think so.

Crawling over to Alabaster, Claymore placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, giving it a light shake, "Alabaster, wake up, it's just a nightmare." The crying and whimpering continued, showing no sign of stopping. "Alabaster," he said again, a little louder this time. "Wake up. There's nothing going on, you're safe. Alabaster, wake up. Alabaster!" The last word had been shouted, the last option Claymore had found at his disposal.

Alabaster's sat straight up, his eyes wide as he looked around him, as if searching for a monster. He was gasping for air and tears were still tracking their way down his checks. Then his eyes landed on Claymore, and he did the last thing the doctor had expected the son of Hecate to do. Alabaster threw his arms around Claymore, sobbing into the mortal's shirt, clinging to him tightly.

Having had no friends himself for a long time Claymore stiffened at Alabaster's hug, not knowing quite what to do, before he ever so slowly wrapped his arms around the shaking boy, "Hey, shh, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. It'll be okay, shh. Just a nightmare."

"N-No it w-wasn't," Alabaster hiccuped, looking up into Claymore's eyes. Claymore could see the pain and fear reflecting in the half-blood's green eyes.

"It was about the war, wasn't it?" Claymore asks gently, running a hand through Alabaster's brown locks of hair.

Alabaster could only nod, lowering his head in hope that Claymore wouldn't see the tears still leaking from his eyes. He didn't want Claymore to think him weak. But shockingly knowing what the boy was trying to do, Claymore hooked two fingers under Alabaster's chin and lifted his head till their eyes met.

"Alabaster, it's okay to be scared sometimes. Everyone gets scared. Hell, I got scared when I was having to deal with Lamia. Getting scared doesn't mean you're weak, Alabaster. Now, want to talk about your nightmare, or do you just want to go back to sleep?" Claymore had noticed the flinch when he mentioned Lamia, so he already had a fairly good idea on what the boy's nightmare had been about besides the war.

"Sleep," Alabaster muttered, lowering himself back into his sleeping back and turning so his back was facing Claymore. Alabaster closed his eyes, praying that Hypnos or Morpheus would send him back to sleep, this time with no nightmares.

After a couple minutes of silence, when Claymore was fairly sure that Alabaster had fallen back to sleep, he laid a hand on the demigod's shoulder, "Goodnight, Alabaster. I promise things will get better. You're not alone anymore. I'm not going to be leaving you by yourself. You don't have to be scared anymore."

Claymore then went back to his spot a couple feet away, not noticing the bright green eyes shoot open in shock. He wouldn't be alone anymore. Someone would stay with him instead of just leaving or dying. It seemed to good to believe for someone who had gone through what Alabaster had. But maybe, maybe Claymore was telling the truth and would stay. He had so far and he hadn't lied to Alabaster yet. A light smile ghosted over Alabaster's face as he snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag.

And for the first time since his banishment, Alabaster felt truly happy.

He was no longer alone.

**Note: The incantation he said to stop Lamia means 'Bind to this Earth'.**


End file.
